Erwin Knippenberg

Working Papers

1. “Resilience, Shocks, and the Dynamics of Food Insecurity” (Job Market Paper) with Nathan Jensen and Mark Constas. link

2. Knippenberg, Erwin; and Hoddinott, John F. (2017) “Shocks, social protection, and resilience: Evidence from Ethiopia”, ESSP Working Paper 109, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. link

3. “Sources of Growing Climatic Sensitivity of U.S. Agriculture” with Ariel Ortiz-Bobea and Robert Chambers.

4. “Land Fragmentation and Resilience in Ethiopia” with John Hoddinott and Dean Jolliffe.

Ongoing Research

My research is organized into three themes:

Theme 1: Measuring Resilience for Impact Evaluation

The concept of resilience lies at the core of my research, and I work on applying it to an impact evaluation framework. I am establishing a portfolio of methodologies for researchers and policymakers. My work demonstrating the benefits of social safety nets in terms of resilience has generated interest with partners at the World Bank, USAID and the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI)

Theme 2: Improved high frequency data collection

My work on low-burden monthly surveys to track well-being has led to ongoing collaborations with researchers at the National Social Environmental Synthesis Center (SESYNC) and the Harvard School of Public Health. I am working to improve on the process and analysis we developed in Malawi and apply it to other contexts, notably Madagascar after cyclone Enawo.

Theme 3: Overlay of remote-sensing and on-the ground data

Building on my use of prediction algorithms using machine learning, I am working with members of think tanks and humanitarians organizations to ground-truth remote-sensing data. We are exploring how to better combine geo-spatial and mobile data with data collected by enumerators on the ground, particularly in the context of humanitarian emergencies.